Month: July 2016

Outside of America, in a lot of countries a vegan way of eating as actually much more commonly known to be a cheaper way of eating, and animal products are seen as a luxury. Most global companies that package and send food to people in financially unstable positions often send staples of rice and beans, and no meat, because meat is more expensive. Rice, beans, potatoes and bananas are my bigger staples when I’m trying to be more cost effective, and those food items are definitely livable on. There have been people that have solely eaten copious amounts of bananas or potatoes and nothing else, and gotten their blood work done to find out they met every nutrition requirement! How crazy is that?! Making meals in huge batches and portioning them along the week also will tend to bring down the costs tremendously, everything’s cheaper if you buy in bulk!

Eating cheap and on the go? No worries, fast food is definitely vegan friendly!! At Taco Bell, you can get a burrito loaded with potatoes, beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, and rice. At Burger King, you can get their french toast sticks and fries. Wendy’s has a black bean burger, and baked potatoes that are not only vegan, but also can be made oil free! Chick-Fil-A has waffle fries and hash browns. Other options are Denny’s, Pizza Hut, and Dominos, and more! A lot of cheaper foods at the grocery store are also accidentally vegan and surprisingly cheap, including most cereals, some off-brand chocolate chip cookies, certain popcorns (even buttery ones), frostings, cake mixes, some canned soups, most potato chips (be cautious of the BBQ flavored ones!), Little Debbie’s Bacon Bits, and Hershey’s chocolate syrup to name a few! Happy cheap, cruelty free eating!

Are vegans taking over everyone’s beloved cooking channel, Food Network? I’d say it’s definitely in the works! It’s no secret that our very own owner and head chef of V-Grits got started on the company after collecting her winnings on the show Cutthroat Kitchen, a show where contestants cook three rounds of random dishes, all the while bidding on sabotages and not going light on the smack talk! The judge didn’t even realizing he was eating vegan food! “No meat, no dairy, no eggs, no problem!”

But Cutthroat Kitchen isn’t the only culinary competition vegans have been able to surpass the “do you just eat grass?” stereotype. Another chef by the name of Rich Landau managed to beat his omnivorous competitors in an episode of Chopped, a competition where the competitors are given three mystery baskets to make an appetizer, entree and dessert. As expected, he did run into one morally challenging dilemma in the dessert basket: honey. He managed to get some in his dessert to avoid getting disqualified, and won with the goal of giving part of the proceeds to an animal sanctuary! Mad props, Chef Rich!

Other shows that have showed vegan cooking to be top dog in taste and ethics are shows Cupcake Wars and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives! Just last week, Guy Fieri featured a butcher shop… of all plant-based meats and cheeses! Say whaaat? The sibling owners of The Herbivorous Butcher told Vegnews that Guy claimed their Italian Cold Cut sandwich was good even by a meat sandwich standard! All of the flavor, none of the cruelty!! Fieri even revealed to them that he mostly just cooks vegetables when he’s at home! Even worldwide known food stars know there something going right with these tasty, cruelty free meals! There’s even a vegan recipe section on Food Network’s website!

Despite the definite progress Food Network has made featuring vegans and showing their culinary brilliance, they still have ways to go compared to the Cooking Channel, featuring an all vegan show! The show is called How to Live to 100, run by celebrity vegan chef Jason Wrobel, sharing healthy superfood recipies for the cure to living a longer and happier lifestyle. Small steps for man, huge steps for veganism! There is a petition going around to get a vegan show started on Food Network, but until then we’ll just have to hope at some point they listen to the signatures!